IIT-M Professors Move Madras High Court Seeking Anticipatory Bail In Sexual Harassment Case

Justice G. Jayachandran has listed the matter for hearing on April 18.

The petitioners submitted that they have been working in the Department of Chemistry from 2006 and 2010 respectively and teach B.Tech, Dual Degree, and MSc. students and also guide Ph.D and Post Doctoral Research Scholars. The defacto complainant enrolled for her Ph.D program in the Department of Chemistry in the year 2016 and completed her course in 2021. The other accused are students studying in the same department with the de facto complainant.

It is alleged that the defacto complainant was mentally, physically and sexually harassed by the first and second accused multiple times over the years. She gave a complaint to the Internal Committee of the Institute in 2020 and detailed enquiry was conducted into the allegations.

The institute however did not find any substantive evidence but with an intent to give moral peace to the complainant, permitted her to continue her thesis without any interference from the accused. The Committee further asked the accused not to enter the campus during the period of defacto complainant's work/thesis and lab hours and to continue their work by staying outside the institute as day scholars. The Committee also asked the accused to access only the labs where they need to work and not to have any form of interaction with the complainant.

The petitioners submitted that in all these allegations and hearings, no speck of allegation was levelled against them but strangely they were arrayed as accused in the FIR. There was no criminality attributed to them and their names were included only in the passing.

Thus, it was contended that in the interest of justice they be enlarged on pre-arrest bail, considering that they are reputed people of good standing in the society and the fact that they have cooperated with the investigation.

Bail Cancellation of Accused

In the meantime, the prosecution had moved bail cancellation application before Justice T.V Thamilselvi to cancel the anticipatory bail granted to the first accused. The case is posted to April 22 for objection of the accused.